Ally McCOIST won’t have any time for nostalgia at Ibrox today because he’ll be too busy worrying about the present and the future.

But memories will be all around him when he faces the club he might have signed for as a kid and a manager he regards as a close friend in Stuart McCall.

The heavy irony being McCall now has to see if he can intensify the pressure on the man who became his brother in arms when the pair were fighting to win Rangers a record-equalling Nine-in-a-Row league titles.

McCoist’s necessity today is to avoid a third straight league defeat and sidestep the use of the word ‘crisis’ against his name.

But he has too much respect for McCall’s ability as a boss to think that will be a foregone conclusion, home advantage or not.

And McCoist delivered a glowing tribute to his pal for keeping the Steelmen in the top three of the SPL table against the odds.

The Rangers boss said: “In this life you generally get what you deserve. And Stuart deserves to be a great success in management.

“He’s done a really great job at Fir Park and that’s no surprise to me at all. He’s just a hard working football man and a great guy.

“Things didn’t go as well for him as he had hoped when he took over at Bradford City but it shows the mark of the man that he’s bounced back so remarkably well.”

McCall played for the Yorkshire club and was indelibly linked with the tragic Valley Parade fire which claimed the lives of 56 people and put his own father in hospital with serious burns.

But his time as manager was cut short after three years.

McCoist said: “It was a bit of a fairytale for Stuart to go back to Bradford City as manager but it just wasn’t to be for him there.

“There was no doubting the affinity Stuart had with the club but a lot’s expected of the prodigal son when he returns somewhere.

“There’s a lot less focus on Stuart with Motherwell than there was at Bradford and it’s been a great move for him and the club.”

If McCoist’s move from playing into coaching and management was originally seen as a surprise after his once flourishing TV career, Ally knew McCall was destined to be a boss.

He said: “I always saw him going into management. Stuart and Derek McInnes were the two Rangers team-mates I could see going down that road.

“Sometimes you get the right people for the right job and it looks as if Motherwell have found the perfect fit for them.”

McCoist then revealed the previously unknown fact that his senior career might have started with the Lanarkshire club.

He said: “I played for Fir Park Boys Club for a number of years alongside Gary McAllister.

“I had great times there and it’s a club I always look out for.

“Big Roger Hynd, a former Rangers player, was Motherwell manager at the time and he offered to sign me on an ‘S’ form.

“I should’ve been a bit scared to turn Roger down because he was a massive figure of a man.

“But my dad and I didn’t like the idea of the ‘S’ form and how it restricted you to a particular club. We felt it was unfair and unjust.

“Who knows what would’ve happened if I had signed for Well? Maybe that’s where it all went wrong for me!”

The last remark was a gentle dig at himself in the wake of Rangers’ fall from grace but nobody, including McCoist, will be laughing unless the team wins today.

And Ally will be placing his trust in players like Lee Wallace, whose introduction to the Old Firm game was the one thing that left him pleased on Wednesday night.

The full back, who cost £1.5m from Hearts in the summer, took to the fixture like a veteran and might have marked his debut with a goal if the ref had adjudged his header to have crossed the line.

McCoist said: “It’s a big thing to play in your first Old Firm game and Lee handled it absolutely fine. He was solid and reliable and I’ve found him to be a breath fresh of air since he arrived at the club.

“I’ve really been pleased with his attitude, as have Kenny McDowall and Ian Durrant.

“There are some who give you nine out of 10 one week and then five out of 10 the next. Lee’s a steady eight every week.

“He got a goal against St Mirren in the match before the derby and it goes without saying he was unlucky not to score in the Old Firm game as well.”